Strengths: Cant get any stronger, it has a real beafy frame the whole bike is just jawdropping. Cost for the bike is high, but wow you really get a massive incredible dh bike. Have 2.5 front and 3.0 rear all 24"s and is perfect for this bike.
Weaknesses: Can be misstaken for a motorbike without enigine as someone already said here.
Bottom Line:
If you can get hold of one, get it ! Just can't get any stronger and better dh bike then this. Sure it's kinda heavy, but it will hold and only thing that will break is you ;)
Strengths: This bike is awe-inspiring. Of all the frames I've ever seen, except maybe a Karpiel Apocalypse or a Brooklyn Machine Works, this one is the most imposing. The solid swingarm, beefy tubing and decals make this bike turn heads. When you actually get on top of it and start riding it, you notice a lot of things, mostly good. The bike is fairly flickable, at least on the short chainstay setting. Despite it's size, maneuvering this thing is not be a problem. It sucks up bumps and bigger hits nicely, and pedals very well. For it's weight and intended purpose, this bike climbs very well.
Weaknesses: Heavy, hard to remove or adjust the rear shock. High leverage ratio.
Bottom Line:
Going downhill this bike is perfect. Going flat, this bike is good. Going uphill, this bike will go, not fast because it's not meant to go uphill, but very, very fast for it's weight and intended purpose. This bike, among DH bikes, is a very good climber, but that's not why I bought it. Going downhill, among DH bikes, this bike is a very good descender. This bike turns from an agile, but heavy, machine to a high-speed descending machine. It won't keep up to a modern DH bike, but for a 5 year old frame, this bike holds it's own. It's not for everyone, but I love my Super 8.
Strengths: very strong bike, know many people who did major drops and really rode the super 8 hard and never cracked or broke the fram
Weaknesses: it is very very heavy, and like all good mountain bikes, its a b*tch to pay so much money
Bottom Line:
if you wanna good DH bike get a super 8, they will be hard to find since they don't make them anymore but you can find a good used one between $1500- $2500
Submitted by
Craig
a Weekend Warrior
from Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Date Reviewed: September 12, 2003
Strengths: This bike is huge! More a motocross without an engine. Strong as hell. Big burly welds, gussets on really thick sounding tubes (tap on them and listen to the sound). Big, solid rear swing arm with cross-braces, takes 3" tires. What a ride. Rides like a motocross (downhill anyways). Floats over massive obstacles! Can run over rocks and roots 6-8" high at freeway speeds. Pedals great and accelerates like a rocket(if you are really strong) Sweet, sweet ride for big and aggressive downhiller or freerider. Not really suited to smaller riders, this is alot of bike.
Weaknesses: Hmmmmmmmm.......paint chips very easily. Fox shock in rear makes big sucking noise.......not much really wrong with this bike.
Bottom Line:
This bike weighs about 50lbs as per specs listed above. This is a serious gravity machine designed for one thing....down. The bike pedals very well after an initial dial-in of the rear shock (not fun). I have set-up with 850lb spring, compression about half way and rebound about 3 clicks out from full soft. She floats over huge rocks and roots at mind-scarring speeds. Forget the brakes, just pedal and ride over it. Awesome ride. Makes you forget about the trail sometimes. Steering is fast and precise, tracking is confidence inspiring. I love it and so will you. A warning to smaller riders, you will need alot of full body strength to bull this brute around at low speeds. At high speeds it is a handfull if you are not strong. For big, aggressive riders, this is a bombproof ride. As close as you can get to full motocross without an engine.
Similar Products Used: Tested only Foes, Cortina, San Andreas, Rotec.
Bike Setup: 2002 Medium black, Stratos S8 (2002), Doublewides with Gazzaloddi 24x3" and 26x3", Race face DH BB, Blackspire guide w/46T ring x 11/34 XT cogstack, XT derailleur and shifters, Titec DH seatpost, F.u.n.n. Serial Killah stem and Full On handlebars, Hayes purple 8" discs F and R.
Bike Setup: 2001 santa cruz super 8, 2001 marzocchi shivers
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
DarkAngelRaaa
a Weekend Warrior
from The North of England
Date Reviewed: January 31, 2003
Strengths: Jesus...I feel the need to do Michael Jackson impressions whenever I ride this thing. So nimble and quick, even with full 24"s, burly, way over strong. Looks as stealthy as hell.
Weaknesses: Doesn't have framesavers like the TMX does, but 99% of bikes don't. The rear shock is a nightmare to remove, when you're tinkering with your shock about twice a week.
Bottom Line:
The shock takes a while to set up, but it's fun learning so who cares. Handles and pedals like a heavy hardtail (I can even bunnyhop walls with the shock set up right!!) It can drop for fun, and is limited only by the rider's nerve. I use it mostly for urban riding and it eats everything in it's path. Suspension is active but not over bobby (when set up)...So fast with a 38 ring on.
Attracts a lot of attention and looks a real bad boy. Buy it now.
Purchased At: Various bits from various internet companies
Similar Products Used: Club Roost DH8, Azonic Eliminator, Foes DHS tube, Coyote DH2, Intense M1, Cannondale F2000, Coyote DH3
Bike Setup: 2002 16"(small) black frame, hadley hub, 5th element shock, 24seven Superfat cranks, Shinburger pedals, Blackspire C/device. 24" Doublewide rear + 3" tyre, shimano mech/shifter/rohloff chain. Monster T forks, Combat on planet x hub + 2.6 tyre. X-lite DHR-80 bars, 24seven grips, atomlabs stem. CK steelset headset. 8" Hayes HFX-9s
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Martin
a Downhiller
from St.John's,Newfoundland,Canada
Date Reviewed: September 28, 2002
Strengths: looks great,pretty tough,not to heavy and pedals decent,good price,very stable in the air and on downhills,comes with hadley hub,excellent warrenty and the guys at santa cruz are great with customer service.
Weaknesses: i snapped my swing arm..........wasent big at all.hardly noticeable.......but the guys at santa cruz gave me a new one no questions asked......comes with a piece of garbage fox shock..blew the rc twice....ahhhhhh no other weaknesses
Bottom Line:
excellent bike.love it........aside from the stock shock its great..........buy one
Strengths: Nuthin but love. cush cush cush, stompin power , thru axle, stiff, pretty good petaling, can go up the shore, not just down, though, down is the highlight. running a shiver up front, (note have to run the drop crown) adjustable angles in 2 places, great rear shock and location, great wiring, clean and quiet, durable, good paint, big big improvements over older bikes reviewed below, bigger tubing, unbreakable and unbendable dropout A + , Also it is not 3000$ for just the frame (Though I do understand why they are that much) just go by a motorcycle if you wnat to spend money. really fun play bike - as seen in kranked 4 ( holey trail) silly what you can do, nice long top tube, makes it manual better and j hop, with a short 35 mm stem, (dont think smaller is better, trust me) oh, must I forget, if you run small 26" tires or 24" like me, tuck up the rear tire tighter that a trials bike by bolting the rear wheel foward (stock option) and make it wheelie drop rad, even though the bike is 40 lbs.
Weaknesses: listen, dont think that this is the end all to bikes, there is alot of great bikes out there, and this is simply one of them. I dont think anything can be perfect, for instance, I dont think this bike "should weight 24 perfect pounds" like zap or mba might like, it should wistand good size drops, not 40 feet to flat, but up to that :) , it should be reliable, which it is, and most important, look cool, which it does, check out mine in the bike pic section soon, and you can pic your own color (way past yah rocky mountain) so it is a rad deal worth every hard earned penny and credit charge. Maybe it could have a floating rear disc, and a ... well I am not sure. Also , shimano, why would you make your stupid derailers be able to bounce on your cassette all day long over every single stupid bump (big ones) dumb dumb dumb. enough said. buy sram.
Bottom Line:
buy sram, and a super 8 in pink. it will be rad. hard to beat for your money, very small reason to every spend more $ other than next years vpp baby.
oh, yeah, by september, gary at brake therapy, is going to have a floating brake for the sup 8 (which if you had not figured out is 8.5" travel santacruzmtb.com) . so email him and bug him, make sure he gets it done!!! (FORKS@THERAPYCOMPONENTS.COM) I want the first one!
Similar Products Used: buch o bikes, giant atx dh, rotec team, bullit, couple of rockys, specialized dh , uh. I get to ride a lot of bikes, I am a dirty wrench, and i bet you are 2!
Bike Setup: shiver (sic), hayes 8 , double wides, hadley hubs, atomic lab stem (very rad, buy it) rad mosh bmx seat, soe other stuff to make it work, again buy sram. try there triggers.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
ALEX INKLE
a Downhiller
from VIETNAM(Canada)
Date Reviewed: April 14, 2001
Strengths: its all gravy baby
Weaknesses: nothing if youre complaining about the rear tire clearence be a man and get a 24" wheel like me then youll be cool
Bottom Line:
the bottom line is that i wanted everyone to know that if you put a 24"wheel your complaining is over and you dont look like a loser complaining all the time on mtbr website i would like to forally thank you for your time,goodbye p.s. the only thing this bike is missing is tits and a brain
Strengths: low center of gravity. laid back geometry yet easy to whip around. Santa Cruz customer service rocks! keep it up Kiwi! Simple design Great performance almost Zero maintenance. the bike just plain kicks ass! Proof that you dont have spend $2500 for a top notch frame.
Weaknesses: popular as hell! everywhere I go I have to double take(thought that was my bike)
Bottom Line:
great company, great service, great bike. This bike is sweet for urban or DH playing. dont get fooled by the hype, its not the bike. its the rider, dont break yourself trying to keep up with the Jones'. A SUPER8 can ROAST 'em if you can hang on!
Similar Products Used: INTENSE M1(all hype, the seatint position feels like i'm perched on top of the bike, not in it like a S8). UZZI DH SAN ANDREAS & SHOCKWAVE MARIN DH(not in the same class but they call it DH) ELLSWORTH DARE
Bike Setup: 20mm RAZOR ROCK HUB F&R/20mm RAZOR ROCK drop outs, Hayes 8" brakes, doublewide rims, Monster T, raceface/MRP/azonic
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
mike
a Downhiller
from Denver, CO USA
Date Reviewed: October 30, 2000
Strengths: Simple design, low maintainence, stiffness(if you buy the RazorRock rear thru-axle upgrade),7.5 inches of real travel.
Weaknesses: Brake lockout,(especially with an 8" rear rotor), rr tire clearance,chain feedback(the chain stretch is extreme through the range of travel)
Bottom Line:
The bike rides pretty well, very plush over medium to large hits,and it corners better than average. However, the braking lookout is a problem that Santa Cruz really should address. Perhaps they should put a floating mount on to solve the problem. I highly recommend anyone who has this frame to buy the 20mm tru-axel upgrade it makes all the difference.
Strengths: VERY PLUSH, FEELS GREAT . HANDELS VERY WELL, INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH. CANT BREAK SEAT POST HOLDER. PRETTY MUCH EVERYTHING ABOUT IT.
Weaknesses: I CANT THINK OF ANYHTING AT THE TIME, I HAVE NOT FELT ANY ON THE TRAILS
Bottom Line:
THIS BIKE IS THE BEST DH BIKE ON THE MARKET. IT HANDELS SO WELL AND HAS THE SMOOTHEST RIDES WITH THE 8 INCHES SETTING ON THE SHOCK. IF YOU RIDE THIS BIKE YOU WILL WRECK YOUR FRIENDS. I KNOW IT IS EXPENSIVE BUT IF YOU ARE A REAL DOWNHILLER YOU WILL KNOW IT IS WORTH EVERY PENNY. SO SAVE THE MONEY AND DESTROY YOUR APPONENT. EVEN IF YOU HAVE TERRIBLE COMPONENTS THIS BIKE WILL STILL FEEL GREAT. THE FRAME FEELS THE BEST WITH MARZOCCHI MONSTER T FORKS. AND THATS ALL I HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THAT.
Strengths: PRICE, strength, simplicity, activeness, travel, ease of use. This bike is very very active. Stiffness
Weaknesses: BARELY FIT A 2.35" tire in the rear. That is disapointing, as does the bike on a smaller chanring.
Bottom Line:
A very versitale frame. Stiff, and super reactive. I have not fealt any bike so active in the first .5" of travel. Holds its own on everything, corners very nicely. Buy it, its cheap
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